Hein Wegdam
Real estate finance is a very unique domain and it has got me hooked
Hein had always found real estate quite interesting, but he developed a real taste for it during a traineeship as part of his bachelor’s degree, when he worked on an €8 million real estate loan (“with the help of a whole team, of course”).
Nowadays, he manages the ING department that is responsible for commercial real estate financing within Business Banking in the Netherlands. He has made rapid progress in his career. After three years as an account manager, he became a relationship manager and successfully built up his own client portfolio. He then went to Singapore for eight months to work on a sustainable finance project.
Breakthrough in the real estate world
“That was a really great experience. We developed a new form of financing: a real estate loan linked to the sector-specific ESG score, which indicates the level of sustainability and corporate responsibility of the real estate investor. The higher their score, the lower their interest rate. That loan was a breakthrough in the real estate world; we really did set a new standard with it. For me personally, it was also a stepping stone to the Dutch Real Estate Finance management team, where I have further expanded our sustainability activities as part of our services. I’ve been in my current role since September 2021.”
Hooked
“Our clients are professional real estate investors, mainly with private shareholders. They invest in commercial real estate such as retail and office space. Real estate finance is a very unique domain and it has got me hooked. I love the fact that it’s tangible and genuine; you can see what you’re financing and therefore also your contribution to the nation’s built environment. Additionally, it’s a very dynamic market.”
Frontrunner in sustainability
“Right now, the rising interest rates and the shortages of labour and materials are hot topics in the sector. Sustainability is another very important trend, and ING is a frontrunner in this. We’re working hard to stimulate the market’s transition towards a more sustainable approach, and we have various tools at our disposal to help us. Besides the ESG loan I mentioned earlier and our advisory services, we also use more socially oriented tools – such as the Vastgoedbos initiative to plant trees in the Netherlands and Bolivia to offset construction-related carbon emissions.”
Challenges and opportunities
“For me, the fact that we are allowed to devise and implement initiatives like this is a perfect illustration of the culture at ING. There are always lots of challenges and opportunities, and we have the freedom to explore how we can work together to do things even better for our customers. The motto from ING’s Orange Code – ‘Take it on and make it happen’ – has definitely always applied throughout my own career.”
About Hein
Hein did an internship at ING while studying business economics in Amsterdam. He then stayed on and worked as an account manager alongside his studies. He subsequently completed a master’s degree in real estate in parallel with a full-time role as a relationship manager. Hein lives in Amsterdam and likes to spend as much time as possible taking out his boat, classic motorcycle or camper van. Besides that, he loves all kinds of active outdoor pursuits; from diving to snowboarding and hiking in the mountains, he’s always keen to try something new. He is currently training for the Berlin Marathon.